I loved to read about the achievementsā¦each individual story is special and inspirational!
Butā¦while the struggles are easy to identify, the small steps and improvements and the growing skills might not be as much!
Soā¦ donāt cheat! Acknowledge your developing strenghts before getting into this space of " why the heck is it taking me so much?! " ā¦and some more ā¦
Mine: notes vanishing/fading in the air way before they should My strategy: aiming to have my fingers gracefully dance on the fretboard as those of Ana Vidovicā¦well ok, letās be realisticā¦just a little tiny bit like hers I think Iām really improving this time! Itās not about fingergymā¦whole hand gym and attitude
playing the correct notes - this is a physical thing more than a memory thing (i think). Youād think I could fret mostly accurately and pick mostly accurately after over 3 years, but no. I probably have 40% errors. The cruel joke is that I have pretty good timing, so it sounds like I should know what Iām doing as long as I donāt play more than 4 or 5 notes in one sequence.
Itās good that you asked, as itās something I wanted to share anyway.
My frustration #1: Making a mistake when Iām overdubbing a painstakingly developed first track or even the whole BT. As I record quite a lot, it happens all too oftenā¦ (You wouldnāt believe how many approaches it took me to record āAtlantisā by The Shadowsā¦).
Only 1? Wellā¦ Iāve been practicing some pretty repetitive 10+ minute basslines, e.g. Papa Was a Rollinā Stone by The Temptations (and other similar songs by them from the same era). Very few notes, relaxed tempo, funky grooves, nothing complicatedā¦ then around the 8-9 minute mark my mind starts to wander, sometimes only for a split second, like āwhat if I pluck the E string with 2 fingers in the next round?ā and BAM! I mess up that easy riff. So frustrating.
Mine is unwanted string noise. Either from the pick, or my fingers moving from fret to fret (a couple of different things causing this), or from a harmonic note that is unintended. Its like I can feel what fun, relaxed playing must feel like but when I get into that fun relaxed state of playing, i get all these string noises and it sounds like im playing sloppy. I think if I had a few more millimeters of length on each of these fingers, it wouldnāt be this way.
I find power chords hard and annoying. I know everyone says theyāre so easy. But they hurt my wrist and my fingers donāt stay locked in the pattern very easily especially if I trying to move fast.
I have a difficult time with my fretting hand pinky. Getting that far stretch without messing everything else up is one. It also tends to do the queen sips tea move.
I am getting more control over it, before I could not use it in a rythem but I am able to do it now. Thanks to daily finger gym. That has definatly helped with my strength and power. I will continue to work on this frustrating digit with it own brain.
I took a look and wow Silvia, she is amazing. I watched the video āAna Vidovic plays Asturias at the New York Guitar Festivalā. I have never seen anything like that tbh.
Uh oh. Maybe I got something for you. I will look for the thread.
Me, knowing well where and how to finger a Bm chord, for instance, but completely blanking out sometimes when somebody says, āwell, the progression goes like this: G A Bm. Letās go!ā. Thatās when the lights go out sometimes and i have to rethink where that chord is on the fretboard and on what string for the occasionā¦ Very frustratingā¦
ah thanks , im not alone
It really is difficult to lock the fingers in place and to stretch it to the frets size
a B5 do not require the same stretch as an E5 ā¦ thats where you lose the pattern for the fingers
I am frustrated that there is not enough time for playing and practice. Always tons of other important things to doā¦ family or work related, household maintenance, projects, ā¦
But I am also trying to more often remember myself to be greateful that I have a job, that I have a great family, that we have our houseā¦ and also for those short breaks that I can actually invest to my guitar journey
make us affirm that weāre not alone in facing challenges
there is always hope to conquer the challenges with eachothers help!
My frustrationā¦ almost ashamed to admit it, since it is a first world problem.
It illustrates that on the musical side, I have little to complain about right now
My main frustration is that I donāt get to do enough of the stuff I envioned myself doing this year. A portion of that is a huge distrcation on the day-job side that drains my energy.
Part of the frustration comes from necessety but the other part comes from having (too) many ideas ;p | 2025 will need to have better organization, since the topics will be varied, more challenging but also ā¦rewarding!
Iād like to be able to give equal effort to my electric guitar playing that I give to my acoustic but thereās not enough hours in the day / I only want to play so much time each day
Like @MacOneill, at the moment itās power chords or more specifically muting the others strings, but thatās just a reflection of where I am in the course (module 12) right now. But it is frustrating because I originally took up guitar to play punk songs. Iāve waited a long time learning the basics (open chords and strumming) and not jumping ahead too early to this. I thought power chords would be easier. But I find it really hard to keep the bottom strings muted. I spent a lot of time on the F barre chord and then moving that shape up and down the fret board and I found that really easy - despite the warnings about the dreaded F chord. I had no problems with that barre chord shape and moving it. I find that easier than the power chords, at this stage in my learning.
Like @Jamolay I also have the problem of often forgetting what comes next in a song I know quite well. That really annoys me and makes me a bit angry with myself.
The other frustration is that when switching from strumming chords to playing a super simple riff or solo on single strings, the transition from strumming to solo sounds so weak and my note playing seems so underwhelming, weak and pathetic. Also the transition is really not smooth and fluent. Too much of a pause between the strumming and finding my place for the single note part.
These are just 3 of many frustrations. However, the joy of being able to now play some simple songs and the ability to now learn new simple songs faster, and even sing some of them, greatly outweighs the frustration. I enjoy learning guitar more and more.
Oh yes and the other one that @mattswain mentioned is time. I would like to learn bass too!!!
Well, developing strengths, Iām pretty chuffed with my barre chords Bm, F , F#m. However my source of has to as others have mentioned Power Chords!!! And by far, Notes On The Neck sure I can find them, but to just put my finger on them at the drop of a hat !!!
donāt cheat! Acknowledge your developing strenghts before getting into this space of "
My strategy: aiming to have my fingers gracefully dance on the fretboard as those of Ana Vidovicā¦well ok, letās be realisticā¦just a little tiny bit like hers 
I think Iām really improving this time! Itās not about fingergymā¦whole hand gym and attitude 
sure I can find them, but to just put my finger on them at the drop of a hat !!!